My Obstacle Course: Engage, Encourage and Empower

A fun, structured, systematic way to work on your child's strengths and weaknesses at home!

Obstacle Course Mom

Stamping

My Obstacle Course station activity: Stamping the word "apple" during an apple themed course

This is one of Andrew’s favorite My Obstacle Course station activities and when I think back to when I taught kindergarten, it was one of their favorite “center” activities as well. There is just something about stamping that children seem to enjoy, perhaps it seems like grown-up activity or is something they rarely get to do. I’m not sure why, but stamps have always been a hit with the children I’ve worked with.

Note: “Centers” are stations that teachers set up and the children rotate through in order to strategically work on different skills.

Building Fine Motor Skills

While Andrew is extremely strong, his grasp is weak and so I am always on the lookout for ways to build strength in this area. When using a stamp, you have to grasp the stamp, push the stamp into the ink and then apply pressure when stamping on paper.

Grasping a stamp helps build fine motor skills by squeezing fingers together to hold the stamp evenly.

Combining Strengths And Weaknesses For Building Skills In Multiple Areas

I found these letter stamps at a teacher supply store and knew that with Andrew’s love of letters and words, they would be perfect for motivating him to work on this fine motor weakness while he’s focused on something that is a strength. Note: The reverse of this would also be true so if you have a child who has great fine motor strength but struggles with letters and words.

My Obstacle Course Stamp Stations

When setting up my stamping station as part of My Obstacle Course, I provide the stamps, stamp pads (I made sure to get washable ink so I wouldn’t have to worry about finding permanently stamped letters on the floor or tables.), paper to stamp on and also paper towels to use either to wipe off ink when switching ink colors or as a place to “hold” the stamps until you are ready to place them back in the case.

Supplies for stamping station: paper, stamps and washable ink
My Obstacle Course station activity: Stamping space words
My Obstacle Course station activity: Stamping ocean words to go with the sticker

Stamping suggestions:

  • Stamping names
  • Stamping words to go with your theme
  • Stamping vocabulary words from a story or as part of a unit study
  • Stamping spelling or word study words

If you are looking for a fun way to engage with your child while incorporating fine motor skills and literacy, I encourage you to try setting up a stamping station!

Engage, Encourage, Empower!

Questioning Skills

Andrew did not speak intelligibly until he was about 6 and to help him get his wants and needs met when around people who didn’t understand him, we had scripted some basic questions. He was quite a master at asking the question “Can I have ____?” and once he began speaking so others could understand him, I realized that it was time to start building his questioning skills (*please read my note at the bottom of this post). I thought about how to do this in an interesting way and had to look no farther than some magazines sitting on a shelf.

Magazines

I flipped through and found some pictures that I could write questions for…

Magazine advertisement with a good picture for coming up with questions.

and cut them out.

Advertisement cut out.

I then printed out some questions…

I typed and printed some questions to go along with the picture.

and cut them into strips so they could be sorted and placed with the picture that they went with.

Question strips

One Of My Favorite Things:  One Activity Targeting Many Skills

As I got working on putting this together I realized that this would also allow me to build on another important skill for him, reading other people’s body language and facial expressions. We could discuss how the people were feeling, tie in personal experiences and even add in some pretend play by acting like we were feeling the same way (“How do you feel when you get dirt all over your clothes?” and/or “Can you make a face like hers?”). Oh I just love it when something so easy and basic provides me with ways to build many different skills. The fact that it didn’t cost me anything extra is a complete bonus!

Here is how I set it up as a My Obstacle Course station:

My Obstacle Course station activity: Match questions with pictures (before)
My Obstacle Course station activity: Match questions with pictures (after)

Here are some other pictures and questions I have used in the past:

My Obstacle Course station activity: Match questions with pictures
My Obstacle Course station activity: Match questions with pictures

These pictures and question strips could be glued onto construction paper and turned into a question book. In my experience as a classroom teacher and at home with Andrew, children love books that they helped create. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, pages stapled together or hole punched and tied together with yarn.  I have found that it helps build reading confidence because they have the knowledge behind the pages so even if they cannot actually read the words, they can still “read” the words as they remember them, using the pictures to help.

Picture and question glued onto black paper to make a book.
Picture and question glued onto black paper to make a book.

Picture and question glued onto black paper to make a book.
Picture and question glued onto black paper to make a book.

As an extension of this skill, I would do the same type of activity but have him come up with questions to go with the picture.

Intelligibility Does Not Indicate Intelligence

Note:  If I had only known then what I know now! If I had known that Andrew was understanding far more than anyone had thought, I would have done something like this before his speech was intelligible. This activity did not require him to speak or read since I was there to provide the auditory information for him (reading the questions) but he could look at the pictures to find the match.

One of the reasons I am doing this blog is to encourage parents to try things and activities that allow children to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding without having to speak intelligibly. Intelligibility does not indicate intelligence!  Speech is definitely something that we work on but there is more to my son than the words he speaks that others are able to understand. It is my hope that the activities I share will help give you a more well-rounded picture of your child’s abilities, building on each developmental and academic area, whether considered a strength or weakness.

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

Station Numbers

When I first began brainstorming on how to work with Andrew at home, I envisioned a treasure hunt with clues scattered about.  As I got thinking about how to make this work best for both of us, I knew that while the format of a hunt would be fun, I needed something more structured and systematic.  I was overwhelmed before I even started thinking about all of the work involved with just coming up with clever ways and clues each time.  Too hard!

While on a treasure hunt of my own at Michael’s to gather supplies and materials, I saw these blank rectangular pieces of wood and thought that they would be perfect for creating a real life dot-to-dot.  I purchased 20 of them and wrote numbers with a black permanent marker.

I decided to take it one step further and instead of using it purely as a dot to dot station, I thought that it would be cool to use them as station markers so he would know where to start, where to go next and also where to stop.  I could also have used index cards, calendar cutouts or calendar numbers but have found that the sturdier the better when making materials I’d like to use over and over again.  The wood pieces have held up really well through 3 years of My Obstacle Courses.

Rectangular wood piece with numbers written on with black permanent marker.
Station markers 1-5 (I have 20 total since I usually do 20 stations in My Obstacle Courses.)

I place them next to the station activities and he uses them to see how he is supposed to progress through the Obstacle Course.

One week's My Obstacle Course stations 1 and 2

They provide structure, make it systematic and I think that they even help to make it an “official” event for him, not just some activities thrown around the room.  With the numbers, it’s the real deal.  There is no question about where to go next, he just looks for and proceeds to the next station number.  This also eliminates him seeing more preferable station activities and running to those.

It has the same effect as writing out the directions by placing some distance between me and the activity.  It’s not me telling him what to do, the number is there and we need to go in order.  He knows that he needs to finish one station, even if that means with assistance from me, before moving on to the next.

Station number 20

I have found this to be such a simple but helpful addition to My Obstacle Courses.  I use them each time we do one and it helps me at every stage, from planning to implementing, because of the structure it provides.  I love easy to make materials that help to make my life easier!

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

Sticker Cards

Two of my favorite items to use when making My Obstacle Course stations are colored index cards and stickers.  I love how they make things colorful and bright while also allowing me to change up the theme easily with stickers.

Snowflake stickers and colored index cards

Building Math Skills

Before setting up My Obstacle Courses, I always think about what skills Andrew needs to build and how I can incorporate them in a fun way.  Early on, I was thinking of the math skills he needed and was trying to find out more about what he knew.  At that point in time we were working with him on numbers (the actual number and what that number represents) and number order.  I had used some regular playing cards found in a drawer and one day had the idea of creating my own “playing cards” using index cards and stickers.  This would be a perfect way for me to combine concept and theme.

Sticker Cards:

What you need:

  • 10 4×6 index cards
  • 3 sheets of stickers from 1 package of 120 stickers (Ideally they should match but can vary a bit like these snowflakes.  I just try to not make them too busy with lots of details.)

How to:

This is really easy and quick to make.  Take a card and place the same number of stickers on it as you want it to represent (ex. one sticker on the 1 card, two stickers on the 2 card, etc.).  The photo below shows my completed sticker cards in order from 1-10.  I do not put the numbers on the cards because I want to be able to see how he is counting.

Sticker cards 1-10

My Obstacle Course Station Activity Ideas:

Put sticker cards in order:

My Obstacle Course station activity: Put these cards in order from 1-10.

Matching sticker cards with numbers:

  • Choose some sticker cards and set out in a random order.  Note:  They do not have to be in order like the photo shows, you can choose whatever numbers you think will challenge your child appropriately.  (Ex.  Using 6 and 9 in the same set would let you know if they are confusing them because they look similar.  Using two consecutive number cards would show you if they are counting properly (1:1 correspondence) or if they are miscounting by counting randomly, skipping over stickers or double counting them.)
  • Make number cards that match up with the sticker cards you’ve chosen.  The numbers shown below are made with same index cards cut in half.
  • Set out the numbers for the child to match up with the sticker cards.
My Obstacle Course station activity: Match the number with the card that has the same number of stickers.
Matching up numbers with correct card.
Numbers matched up with correct sticker cards.

Make This Number:

  • I choose a number and write it down.
  • I then select sets of cards that when put together, they make that number.
  • When putting the station together, I separate the cards so that one card from each set is put out underneath the number and I mix up the other cards.   This activity is giving them the sum and one addend and they have to figure out what the other addend is!
My Obstacle Course station activity: Make This Number

How To Play:

  • When he gets there he will look at the number to make  (10 in this photo).
  • He will count the number of stickers on the first card under the number.
  • Then he will choose a second card from below that he thinks will help to make the given number.
  • He’ll count the stickers on the two cards to see if they make the number.  If he doesn’t get it, he’ll choose another one from below and see if it works.  If he gets it, he moves on to the next set, continuing until all sets are matched up.

Note:  When we first began doing this, Andrew went about this in a fairly random way but I have seen him grow and begin to strategize a bit.  I can see him really thinking about the number he is starting with and choosing his next card based on what makes the most sense.

Two cards matched up to make 10 in "Make This Number" (In this photo, 3+7 are matched together to make 10)
Cards matched up for Make This Number. Â This photo shows 9+1, 3+7, 8+2 and 4+6 which all make 10.
Andrew making 9 while doing My Obstacle course station "Make This Number."

Storage and organization:

Winter sticker cards stored and labeled

These cards are quick and easy to make yet provide many different ways to build math skills at many different levels.  I have shown you just some of the ways I have used them in my home.  I encourage you to think about the skills your child needs to build and see if there is a way to use these fun, colorful sticker cards to help!

Engage, Encourage and Empower!

Annie the Bear

Social Skill Building:  Thinking Beyond One’s Own Needs

One of the things that we are continually working on with Andrew is his social skills.  He is gifted at being able to get everyone around him to meet his wants and needs, even when his speech was limited to “uh uh uhs.”  He is an only child and because we didn’t know what he could or couldn’t do due to his delays, we initially did a lot for him.  Then we hit a point where we realized he could do a lot more but quite enjoyed having others doing things for him while he got to do what he wanted.  Smart child!  (I secretly think he’ll make an excellent business executive someday – he knows what he wants, he’s great at delegating, he checks up to make sure things are getting done the way he wants, and he reaps the rewards of everyone’s hard work.)

You Have To Know What To Do Before You Know What To Do

We learned our lesson but also realized that there were things that he needed to be taught so he would know how to do them. I am a firm believer that you cannot expect someone to know how to do something when they don’t know how to do it.  I found that this is also true when it comes to empathizing with and helping others with their wants and needs.  While this might come easily and naturally to some children, it didn’t for him.  Don’t get me wrong, he is a sweet, happy, loving boy, it just didn’t really occur to him that he should help us or others out.  We all seemed quite capable of doing it ourselves :).  I needed a way to teach him this in a very deliberate and direct way without having or needing another person here.

Using What I Already Have

One day, while straightening his room, I put a stuffed animal back on a shelf for the millionth time, and then it hit me!  I had been focused on building other developmental and academic skills using things I already have and I could do the same to help build the social skills he needs!!  It was then that I decided to introduce Annie, a teddy bear I had gotten as a baby shower gift.  I would use her in a My Obstacle Course station activity to help teach him about how to help others.

Annie the Bear

There were many benefits of working on social skills using an inanimate object.  I didn’t have to worry about the social skills between two children, him getting overwhelmed by another child’s social expectations or pre-coaching the other child about why we were doing this when it may seem obvious to them. I could model language and actions in a strategic way while within a familiar and safe environment for him.  This is particularly important for him because he pays attention to and notices everything around him to an amazing degree.  He picks up on the energy and perceptions that other children have and is quite aware when someone is insulting or making fun of him.  This was something I wanted to be able to work on without having to add those issues to his plate.

Another benefit was that he would also be able to do things like put on a band-aid or help her brush her teeth without someone squirming (not that friends brush each others teeth but we struggle with getting him to brush his teeth so I wanted him to work on that skill from a different perspective.).  Annie would be perfect for this!

I grabbed Annie and went hunting for some common items that could be useful when helping someone.

My Obstacle Course station activity: Annie the Bear needs your help!

Just some of the items I have used:

  • tissue
  • toothbrush
  • straw
  • spoon
  • band-aid
  • crayon
  • crackers

I wrote and printed out some basic scenarios that Annie could have happen to her.

Some of Annie the Bear's scenario cards

Here are some sample scenarios:

  • Annie fell down on the playground.  Her knee is bleeding.  What does she need?
  • Annie finished her breakfast and now she needs to brush her teeth.  What does she need?
  • Annie has applesauce in her lunch.  What does she need to help her eat it?
  • Annie just sneezed!  She needs something to wipe her nose with.  What can she use?
  • Annie wants to drink her juice but she doesn’t like to drink from the cup.  What tool can she use?

When he got to the station, he would have to read or listen to the scenario and find the item in the bag that could help her.  Here are some questions that I would ask him:

  • What happened to Annie?
  • What does she need?
  • Can you help her?

When doing this station with him, I was modeling pretend play by treating Annie as though she were a real child sitting there with us.  I talked to Annie, modeling for him how to ask her things like, “Are you okay?” or “How can I help you?”

Turtle Steps

At first it may seem kind of funny (although if you’re in a situation like I was with a non-verbal child, I had already spent years talking out loud to myself so it didn’t really faze me!) and he did look at me like “You do know it’s not real?” but pretty soon he was doing it as well.  Building these basic social skills did not come over one session but in the 3 years we’ve been doing this, I have really seen them evolve in him.  Through the use of Annie the Bear, as well as other inanimate friends, and creating different scenarios that were occurring in his life, I think this has made a huge difference.  It gives him the language to use during a situation that is familiar and he gets to practice without pressure to get it right the first time.

Some friends to help build social skills involving turn taking.
Here is an alternative to stuffed bears. Â It doesn't matter what kind of toy you use, see what you have and work with that!

Where at one point in time I could not have imagined him pretend playing with his toys, I have gone looking for him only to find him in his room reenacting scenes from school and home, caring for and nurturing his toys as “real life” people.

Perhaps taking it a bit far implying that Harvey needs a brain. 🙂

This has also moved beyond toys to him commenting on other people’s feelings and needs.  Just the other day, I hit my shin and said, “Ouch!”  He ran over and said, “Mommy needs a band-aid.”  He ran off and yelled for me to come help him because the band-aids were on the top shelf.  It’s the thought that counts here and he was thinking it!

Engage, Encourage and Empower

Building Scissors Skills

The fine motor skill of cutting is something that is difficult for many young children and Andrew was no exception.  I had gotten some children’s scissors but it was really difficult to get his fingers into the holes in the right position.  In addition to that, there is the whole skill of opening and closing the scissors using the fingers.  These challenges don’t even take into consideration the planning necessary to have the scissors where they need to be to cut where they are supposed to be cutting!

Loop scissors

I found these Loop scissors at the teacher supply store and thought they were fabulous.  They come in different sizes and since there are no holes, he can place his thumb on one side (the top side when cutting) and the rest of his fingers on the other side and squeeze.  This allows him to build the motor skill of squeezing and releasing his hand so the scissors open and close to cut the paper.  (Use hand over hand if your child is at the beginning stages or if they need help with feeling how much pressure is needed.)  These scissors remove one challenge but still allows him to work on planning where to put the scissors to cut where he wants to cut.  There is time for him to work on using traditional scissors but for now we are using any tool we find that helps him build skills at his level.

Making Scissor Skills Interesting To Someone Not Interested In Arts And Crafts

Now that we had a great tool, I needed an interesting way to help him build his cutting skills.  Since he is not the kind of child who is into arts and crafts projects, I have to find ways to sneak it in while capturing his attention with something that does interest him.

My Obstacle Course station activity: Cut out the ceiling fans. Put them in order from your most favorite to your least favorite. (Note: Andrew loves ceiling fans and so this was very motivating for him.)

Drawing brightly colored, thick lines around the area to cut helps to provide some structure.  It helps him to see where he is supposed to cut, gives him something to focus on and helps reduce frustration caused when he accidentally cuts through the picture!

My Obstacle Course station activity: Â Cut out three books you would like to read.
My Obstacle Course station activity: Cut on the line and sort the pictures into people, places or things. (Note: This is from Reading A to Z's website which has materials to reinforce and build literacy skills.)

If you have a child who is not crazy about working on scissors skills, think about what they like or what they are into and have them cut out things that go along with their interests, like Andrew cutting out fans.  Think about using things like toy catalogs, grocery fliers, old magazines, wrapping paper, string, etc. and add some purpose by having them find specific things or amounts of things.

Some ideas for adding purpose:

  • things that they like
  • things that they dislike
  • things that are a certain color
  • pictures of animals
  • things that start with a certain letter or sound (this adds literacy)
  • things that have numbers on them (this adds math)

I encourage you to think about how you can combine things that are challenging for your child with things that are fun and interesting to them.  It doesn’t always have to be fancy or expensive.  You may be surprised what you have in your own home that could be used for a cutting station.  My kindergarten students had a blast cutting out grocery items from the newspaper advertisements, pretending to make grocery lists and I bet you they didn’t even know they were doing it to work on their cutting skills!

Engage, Encourage, Empower